Author Topic: Sage Derby - speckled not marbled  (Read 1372 times)

Denise

  • Guest
Sage Derby - speckled not marbled
« on: October 26, 2013, 06:29:22 AM »
 I made this Sage Derby in early August, following the recipe in 200 Easy Cheeses more or less to the letter. The only bit I changed is that I added a bit of spinach to the sage, as the New England Cheesemaking page suggests, in order, hopefully, to get a brighter green colour. I zapped the sage and spinach in the blender to get it as close to puree as possible. It was a lovely colour then, but seemed to disappear when I mixed it with the curds. Thinking maybe the colour would develop with aging, I pressed the cheese, dried it, waxed it and popped it in the cave, giving it a turning-over and a good talking-to every day.

When I opened the cheese this month (2 months on), the texture is good, the taste is nice and herby - but as you can see, it's speckled, not prettily marbled like the pictures in 200 Easy Cheeses and on the NEC page.

I love the taste of this cheese, but how do I get it to look like it's supposed to look?

TLOML is convinced the green flecks are mould, and refuses to even have a little taste. :-\

jwalker

  • Guest
Re: Sage Derby - speckled not marbled
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2013, 03:12:24 PM »
I would guess you probably need more green liquid when making the puree , did you have much ?

The liquid being squeezed between the curds is what gives it those lines of marbling , just like you see in the ones done with red wine or dark ales.

Maybe add more water to herbs before blending next time.

Maybe even the addition of some green food coloring added to curds just before molding , if just for looks.?

It looks like a great cheese anyway , a cheese to you !

Denise

  • Guest
Re: Sage Derby - speckled not marbled
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2013, 03:12:27 PM »
Thank you for the cheese!

I used the amount of sage and water given in the recipe, plus the added spinach. I could add more next time, I suppose.....but wouldn't that change the flavour? Maybe more spinach would do the trick without altering the taste too much, but then it would be Popeye Derby, not Sage Derby. That leaves the green colouring path to be gone down, but that feels like cheating. Last resort.

The more I make my own stuff, whether it's cheese or bread or home-grown veggies, the more I realise there's more to the stuff in the shops than they let on. No wonder the 'authentic' stuff is so much more expensive.....!


JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: Sage Derby - speckled not marbled
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2013, 06:45:01 PM »
Actually, I think green colouring would probably be "authentic" rather than cheating!  The commercial sage derbies are coloured I believe.  If you want to avoid food colouring, then more spinich is probably the way to go.  I don't add herbs to my cheeses (just the once, for a sage wensleydale) so there are others who may have more helpful advice.  I think some will "green colour" the milled curds, which will only colour the outer edges, and that gives a nice marbled look.

- Jeff

Denise

  • Guest
Re: Sage Derby - speckled not marbled
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2013, 07:30:40 AM »
Hmm. I think I'll try it one more time with more spinach, and if that doesn't do the trick green colouring it will have to be..... :o